After only two weeks in the job, Hot Tuna’s new chief executive had to deliver a profit warning.

The surfwear maker slid 1½p to 12p after Niels Juul admitted that the board had been too optimistic with its sales and investment guidance. Losses for the year to June would be as much as £3.2 million, more than double analysts’ forecasts. However shares still finished off their record low after the house broker Seymour Pierce issued “buy” advice and said prospects for year two of its relaunch remained unchanged.

Seymour Pierce analysts were also supportive of Protherics, starting coverage of the drugs developer with a 111p target price. Shares rose ¾p at 57p.

Churchill Mining, a speculators’ favourite in recent months, was the day’s top performer on a gain of 24p at 52p after it agreed to supply coal to an Indonesian power company.

Bid speculation lifted Ultimate Leisure by 14½p at 238p, a 14-month high, despite some scepticism among industry watchers. The Reuben Brothers and Dawnay Day together control more than 60 per cent of the late-night bars and clubs operator, having backed a fundraising in February.

Uranium miners were in focus after the French nuclear group confirmed it had agreed a $2.5 billion cash offer for UraMin, up 31p at 408p. Zambezi Resources closed higher by 5¾p at 27½p.

Evolution Group faded 3p at 136p, leaving it flat over the past six months – a performance that has unsettled some institutional investors. News this week that the broker had hired two senior UK equities staff from its rival Panmure Gordon appears to have stoked strategy worries, with one big shareholder letting it be known that it was “becoming increasingly concerned” about the management team. A spokesman for Evolution said there was no indication of a rift between the board and shareholders.

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